Ladies
Ashley Wagner said after she won the gold by a landslide that she "was a force to be reckoned with." She certainly was at this competition. She rightly trounced the field, and it proved me dead wrong. I thought she was a fool to keep competing, but she worked her butt off since Sochi and deserves the win. Not sure she has the stuff to beat the Russians at Worlds though, unless they seriously mess up. Gracie Gold looked like the pressure of the last year got to her, plus I didn't like her long program very much, it wasn't very exciting. And Polina Edmunds is clearly going through some puberty, and it's just really awkward to watch her. Her free program and costume were just so...off. Whoever is responsible for the costume and the program should be made to walk across the rink barefoot. Karen Chen, however, who I'd never seen before last week, is in my humble opinion the key to future American domination in ladies figure skating. She hails from the same town in Cali that brought us Kristi Yamaguchi (that's such a marvelous coincidence!) and she's a pint-sized jumping machine to rival any of the Russians. She may not do it this year, but watch out next year, World.
An interesting side note - both Ashley Wagner and Mirai Nagasu said very clearly before going out to skate their long programs that they were "terrified." You don't see skaters admitting that publicly very often. It's good to be terrified though. It means you're challenging yourself. If you're not at least a little terrified, you're doing it wrong (and you're a robot).
Men
Jason Brown's gold medal was also deserved, even though he didn't actually win the long program portion of the event. His skating is what all skating should be. Fun! He looks like he's having so much freaking fun out there. It's about fun, remember? Need I write the word fun one more time? I was sad to see Jeremy Abbott fall to 5th, as I do so enjoy watching him skate. But he has had his day in the sun, and I am thrilled with two out of the three gentlemen who placed ahead of him. Josh Farris is a wonderful skater. He would have gotten the silver if he hadn't thrown in a third 2toe in his program, which canceled his score on the 3lutz, 2toe combo. The jump limit is a pesky rule, but it has to be followed, or it will have seriously negative consequences. I love Max Aaron's skating too (he's nice to look at!), though his jumps are a bit wonky in the air. Adam Rippon, who took home the silver, I'm not so sold on him. His quad lutz is barely a quad. Seems like he could easily get a downgrade every time. And I don't think he's consistent enough to do well on the World stage, despite the stellar performance at Nationals. We shall see. I've been proven wrong before.
Pairs and Dance
I didn't watch, so I can't really comment other than to say I there was a heck of an upset in the pairs event, and the USA still has a chance to be dominant in dance with Madison Chock and Evan Bates leading Team USA at Worlds.
For full results and score breakdowns, hit up icenetwork.com!
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